County budget process to begin

Members of the McDonough County Board's finance committee were put on notice Wednesday that five review sessions to build the county's 2015 budget have been scheduled in September.

"Budgets should be run through the appropriate county board committees before we discuss them here," said finance committee chair Alice Henry. McDonough County is subject to the Illinois Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, which ties the level of increase to the federal consumer price index.

Henry said the CPI is now at 1.5 percent, down from 1.7 percent last year. She said county department heads have been diligent each year in holding their budgets to minimal increases because revenues have not been coming up to expectations.

In terms of county services, Board Chairman Scott Schwerer said, "We're getting to the point that we can only afford what is specifically required by law."

The finance committee has budget sessions scheduled for September 3 at 6 p.m., September 10 at 4 p.m. and again at 6 p.m., September 11 at 4 p.m., and September 18 at 6 p.m. and will use the month of October to finalize the new budget. The county board generally votes on the budget in November and it goes into effect December 1.

In other business, the committee voted to recommend monthly payments to McDonough County Public Transportation and to the Bushnell Senior Meals program. The two services draw funds from the county's senior citizen tax levy at an 80 per cent to 20 percent ratio.

"People really did step up for this," Henry said of efforts to retain meal deliveries in Bushnell after the American Red Cross chapter withdrew from transportation services.

The committee voted recommendation of an $8,000 transfer within the budget of Coroner Eric Jameson due to the number of autopsies conducted this year. Also recommended was a new five-year contract with DEVNET, the company that provides the computer program used in processing property tax bills, at a cost of $30,000.

Schwerer mentioned that the concrete intersections have been rebuilt at each end of the Blandinsville/Tennessee Blacktop. He said milling and then oiling and chipping of the road surface have yet to be done.

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